An excellent talk introducing Erlang. I’m still working my way through it, but this, coupled with the Crosswalk, should help any user understand Erlang. At the very least, the video might convince you if you want to jump in. The video is proving effective at making me lament my computer science background. I’ve had too much Java and too little C, I think. Also, I remember taking a class that used Prolog. I hated it. I’m now surprised to learn that Erlang is based off of Prolog and I love Erlang so far. What a difference a year can make. I wonder if I revisited Prolog if I would like it any better.

Criticism of Erlang. Always a good thing to see what might not be so great about a language and why it might not be right for you. Currently, there is no Holy Grail of languages, but that won’t keep me and others from looking.

Reminds me that we should all remember that we all have biases built in. If something seems like it sucks, maybe it’s just because we’re doing it wrong, not because it actually sucks. Although it’s always important to try and find a better way to do something. Isn’t that ultimately what life is all about?

So is Erlang about to catch on, or is it just a passing fad? Only time will tell, but I’ll give my opinion anyway. Because Erlang is so very different from most languages currently on the market, I’m not sure it will ever catch on like wildfire, but I think it will certainly continue to grow as it offers compelling solutions to difficult problems. Eventually, I think a new language will come along that combines the strengths of Erlang with the designs of today’s more popular languages, and then we’ll see the ideas in Erlang spread quickly as the new language is picked up. Of course, what do I know? Erlang will probably become as popular as Paris Hilton tomorrow and I’ll look like a fool.

One Comment

Something you cant deny is its simplicity in distributed concurrent language primitives. Abstractions are much easier to see and make because of this. I’m not sure if you’ve ever used RMI in Java or anything of that nature but it really makes you appreciate Erlang for what it was intended and designed for. Even if it does have downsides. I think people are just used to these “does-it-all” languages and when something like Erlang comes around, some people don’t know how to fit it in to their already full programming language portfolio.